BATTLETECH: What's Next?

First of all, to our Backers and new players alike - thank you for your incredible outpouring of love and support last week following the launch of BATTLETECH, and for sharing so many of your amazing game experiences with us. As a small developer, these stories mean the world to us. It's why we do this.

We could easily fill this entire post and more just rounding up press and fan reactions to the game - but we'd rather talk about what's next. From the start of this project, we've viewed launch not as the end of the road, but as the birth of a living product. Over the course of development, you might recall that we often answered speculative questions about post-launch features or content with, "in success, all things are possible."

Well - thanks to you, this is the success we hoped for. And many things are now possible! We're working with Paradox on a roadmap for the next year of BATTLETECH development. This will include regular bugfixing, quality-of-life improvements, and free Updates adding new features to the game. Here's a look at the next few months of that roadmap.

BATTLETECH Post-Launch Roadmap

1. Compatibility / Performance InvestigationsOur launch last week wasn't perfect. A subset of players are experiencing hardware/system compatibility and performance issues that our team is working hard to investigate. Solutions for critical issues are always our top priority, and will be released as soon as they're available and tested. Typically, we will release patches to our public_beta branch on Steam for a few days for testing before we push them to the default branch.

On that note - last Friday we released our first patch to the public_beta branch for testing. Today, that 1.0.1 Patch went live - you can read the full changelog here. We expect to release more patches to public_beta in the coming days and weeks.

2. General BugFix (Late May)We expect to release at least one general bugfix/improvements patch later in May.

3. Localization (French, German, Russian) and Linux SupportThese are both Kickstarter commitments and high priorities for our post-launch roadmap. (Along with a couple other Kickstarter commitments that didn't make it in for launch.) We don't have a more precise ETA yet for these items but will update you as soon as we do.

4. Update #1: Customization & Player Options (June/July)We're already beginning work on our first larger free Update to BATTLETECH. This Update is all about customization and reacting to common pieces of feedback that we've received from you on the game. Here's a list of items we're currently looking at for Update 1 this summer

--Accelerated Combat Options - We're working on options for players who would like to accelerate the pace of combat missions.

--MechWarrior Customization - We know that many players would like to change the appearance, callsign, name, and voice of all their MechWarriors, not just their Commander. This didn't make it in for launch but we'll be adding it in Update 1

--Granular difficulty settings - A set of discrete options for players to customize the challenge level of the game in different areas.

It's important to note that the exact contents of Update 1 may shift during development. Please consider these general directions and priorities. We'll post a more detailed and updated list of what's in the Update closer to its release.

5. More BATTLETECH!!The above is just the beginning! We'll be continuing with more free Updates after Update 1, and we'd also love to release a larger paid content Expansion or two - but right now we're staying focused on bugfixes and immediate reactions to launch feedback.

With your support, we could not be more excited to continue making BATTLETECH even bigger and better.

Hello, I got a Humble Bundle Key and have had no end to problems. First I had to download the 11 GB file 3 times at launch. Now from them I apparently have to redownload and reinstall the game every time there is a patch as their version has no way to update the already downloaded game. Is there anyway to register my copy or to get a steam or GoG key? GoG wasn't an option when I first backed, and I thought about asking for a change, but I cannot afford the time and internet cap of downloading an 11 GB file every time there's a patch. I really love the game, but I would like to get the fixes that have been put forward with the patches..... Thanks!

Thanks for taking feedback on board and making this game even better! I would definitely like to see some expansions for this game. Hopefully something big that changes things up, like XCOM 2's Chosen DLC.

Even as I see the large amount of updating-in-progress, I'd like to thank you many times for creating the game I downloaded on launch day.

I started with Crescent Hawk’s Inception, a game I somehow managed to beat despite how little handholding that old thing had. Since then I've touched the tabletop game just a little, played a later computer game or two, and watched over the shoulder for yet more. This game, despite any existing bugs and frustrations, is a grand finale (hopefully with to-be-continued) of that experience.

Bugs, yes, and I'm sure you have all sorts of reports for the things that got to me (like, say, the game becoming unplayable if my main character ejects). And of course the basic system was already there in advance, with a small and understandable assortment of lasers, missiles, etc., so that isn't a cause for today's celebration. Yet your extensions are terrific. I love the 'Mech weight balance and the expanding world of specialty gear: I've been developing a stock of "Diverse Optics" M Laser ++, myself.

I also adore the visuals. Night mission in woods / Missiles strike the enemy / Fire among the trees. Haiku.

And though the balance in certain missions needs work--e.g., the "optional" instruction to defeat all enemies is almost never "optional"--I have new experiences I will remember. Like how I had been thinking it was a pity I couldn't have area-of-effect attacks; I knew the rules and knew it wasn't in typical play. Then I partook in the liberation of Smithon. It was clear that I was supposed to trick the enemy into standing near ammunition crates. I managed to detonate one and was delighted that it ripped apart a light 'Mech and did real work on a medium. Excellent!

Except for the part where I was dying under superior fire. I tried desperately to lead opponents onto another crate but they weren't having it. I did a "fighting withdrawal"--a fancy term for "rout"--into the far corner at the end of the road away from base, losing lancemates all the while. In the end, with a single light 'Mech, and my back literally against the wall, I watched as six enemy 'Mechs walked into the alley and stopped before the crate. I hit the "reserve" button. Enemies stepped into the blast zone. I hit it again. More stepped in. I had five in there, and the only one left outside had already lost all its weapons. I fired.

Five 'Mechs detonated in a single action, and Lady Arano had to deliver all her "good job" sound clips one after another. And I kept the save. I can relive this mass detonation anytime I want.

As an extra thrill, this was the first time any of my defeated MechWarriors survived being incapacitated, so they all lived to brag about their victory. I doubt this will ever get into the game, but I'll request it anyway: I would adore the ability to issue my MechWarriors custom medals to remember the things they've done.

I thank you for this moment and for this game. Keep on doing what you do.

@Mo What are you talking about? 1.0.2 is in beta, and it's available on Steam in the beta branch, which you have to select manually. I understand the 1.0.2 beta is also available on GoG through the GoG Galaxy downloader. (I'm not using a GoG version so I'm just relating what I've read based on comments.)

Either way, if the 1.0.2 patch is approved after opt-in beta testing, it'll go to the main branch and download as an update to the game.

Superbacker

*cough*. Sorry. This game is freaking amazing (especially considering the budget), and I'm just really excited about the legit expansion model and not the "we'll just add sprinkles of content here and there in the form of *air quotes* 'DLC', because this is the way of the future and numbers on a page told me this was better than utilizing creative brain cells to package together an 'expansion,' if you will, of the game world's content."

Also, as awesome as the game is, never stop injecting it with more awesomeness! But like... artisan awesomeness. None of that bulk stuff. I want you to continue hand-picking only the finest specimens of fruit from the Awesome trees, and juicing them with tools lovingly carved from dragon bone. *encouraging fist pump* ^_^!

I absolutely LOVE this game! Undoubtedly one of the best KS projects I've backed and so glad it is receving the success it thoroughly deserves! I can't wait for more content and hope to be playing this for years to come.

Please, please, please can we also get ultrawide 21:9 support patched in as well :)

Additional items for the wish list (some will already be mentioned by others).

Larger maps. So we can get more use out of those lovely a/c 2's and '5's and LRMs. Also so we could field two or more lances.

Can the Argo support additional dropships? Or a bigger dropship? Like a Union or other? Then it would make sense with additional lances in play. Even then have an option to drop in a Union and have that as a battlestation in support of your lances.

Enemy morale. They either eject and/or surrender. Or maybe flee the battlefield.

Vehicles. Seen tanks, but no helicopters. If we could have vehicles, we could possibly make use of say, coolant trucks for additional immersion. At least in some battles.

And look at the coding for the locusts. I don't know how many times those buggers have inflicted head shots on my mechs. lol

Superbacker

This is the 2nd game I backed and am very happy with the result.
Congratulations to HBS team.
As other have said, I'm only unhappy because of the DRM/Paradox account mandatoryness but I'm too impacted, so that is ok.

@Andreas
@mike
There's always the option of a refund for the fail in delivering the rewards (game is not drm-free, exclusive items are locked behind a shady 3rd party account). The game will be on sale eventually and if you have already gave up on exclusive content I don't see the point in keeping the backer copy (that btw on GOG is a special entry not recognized by the catalogue just for the sake of depriving the user of some content).

Actually, I am also not that happy that I got no key for the 'Digital Deluxe Content' DLC and just got the downloads of my extras as backerkit download only. But I guess Paradox demands you paying for those worthless avatar & icons for their forums.
I am quite disappointed about that PR move. ;/

Overall I like the game, but I am very disappointed by Paradox account scam. I do not want an account with them, and should not be required to get a account with them to do anything with this game as that was not part of the deal we made. So it is disappointing that from where I sit you are not willing to hold up your end of the bargain and send me my backer rewards. I do like the game, but not sure if I will back anything else.

Sounds great. You guys had after all enough experience under your belt with all the Shadowrun games. I am looking so forward to the future of the game after the bug fix and tweaking period for new, additional content like new missions, more units (mechs and other ground vehicles from the extensive lore library, Star League stash missions, other Inner Sphere areas with new story archs and other 'work environments', etc.
Hopefully besides new content also further improvements on more detailed damage models to catch the great board game atmosphere.

Superbacker

my problems, have been that when I move, I will not get the option to select my facing, (just one click for the location to move to, without a discrete second click to actually choose my facing) and have resulted in having a mech walk into a location, with their back facing the opfor.
I built up the mech support / salvage functions, but the HGN 732B Highlander has lost it's Gauss Riffle and some of the Double Heat sinks, but I can't make replacements.

I love that it's getting Paradox'esque quality-of-life updates. Hope there will be DLC-galore aswell, although not everyone is on board with that. But your current plans are the important bit. Just awesome! <3

Even back when I first backed the game, knowing and being a long time Battletech person, I never expected to find myself addicted to the thing again.. From the moment of release... until about 15:00 hours this past Saturday, I was spending any free time (many 6-8 hour stretches) playing.....

I probably would not have stopped then except for one problem... I had to stop at that time because they would not let me take my computer into the ambulance with me on the way to the hospital...

Appendicitis.. for real.. suddenly and without warning! LOL Today, Thursday, I am home again and this is the first chance to get back to playing some but it will depend on how long I can stay sitting upright in front of the computer! Trust me .... "the pain is real" lol...

Anyhow, great job to Jordan and the team! Looking forward to many updates, DLC's and new game play campaigns to come!

(and since my appendix is now gone, I don't have to worry about that happening again!)

I only had a few hours free to play and I like what I see so far. And I'm looking foward to playing some more as time permits (OTR Truck, I don't have much free time).

My Personal Wishlist for the game:

1) Controller support. One of the issues I have with playing PC games on the road is that I rarely have the space to use a mouse and my trackpad skills suck (a lot). Being able to use a controller makes playing a heckuva lot easier when I'm in my truck, and having the ability to play on my big TV and couch when at home would be a massive boon too. Which leads to....

2) Console ports, particularly Nintendo Switch. If controller support was made available on the PC version, it wouldn't be a big stretch to port to PS4/XB1 as they're practically PCs already. But I'd love to see this game on the Switch if it's doable; it's even more handy than my gaming laptop and I'd definately get more playtime out of it than on my laptop or another console.

3) Adapting scenario packs from the tabletop game to PC, particularly the Starter Books. I'd definately be into an adaptation the books The Sword and The Dragon or Wolf and Blake, but there are a mess of other scenario packs that would be fun additions to the game, particularly if something like an open campaign mode was added.

These are a few things I'd love see happen. Keep up the awesome work and watch your 6. :)

My Kickstarter copy was fulfilled by Humble Bundle, and I'm pretty upset that my option for patching it is to redownload the entire game. Please integrate some kind of patching utility into the game, or offer separate patch downloads, so I don't have to keep losing huge chunks of time to this kind of 'nuke it from orbit' approach to keeping my game updated.

I only have one major complaint:
When the actual combat initiative begins (And ends) feels a little weird: being 'surprised' (when I'm not really surprised usually) and losing out on moving the other lance mates.
I don't mind it much on most missions, I can see why you'd do it that way, but on missions with a timer you're completely losing those pilot's actions and it feels unfair.
Also related but on the other end of that, if combat ends when you still have units that haven't acted they also lose their action for that 'round' when there is a timer going.

You guys did a great job with the UI! There's a lot of data communicated very efficiently. However, some things are not explained in the game very well -- or even at all. It might be a bit late now, but it would have helped to have beginner tooltips on *everything* in the combat UI, which could be disabled in the settings, to explain things like the heat bar, the stability bar, the initiative bar, etc.

Outside combat, being able to skip more of the transit cinematics would be nice -- it's annoying that hitting Esc skips some parts of the travel animation, but brings up a menu for other parts. If it isn't a veiled loading bar, please make it consistently skippable.

My biggest UI annoyance though are the heat/firepower/movement/etc. bars in the mech lab -- THEY ARE NEARLY COMPLETELY USELESS. It's incredibly annoying not being able to see the numeric data for those things. At the very least, give us a hover tooltip for each bar with all the related data -- jump distance, move speed, heat sink capacity, damage, etc. Numeric data would make it much easier to compare different mechs, and it would be a great way to communicate some completely hidden things like the fact each mech can sink 30 points of heat per turn without any heat sinks installed, and that adding jump jets increases jump distance, etc.
Haven't had any crashes, but I did end up in UI limbo at the end of a mission. Managed to salvage all 3 parts for an SHD-2D, and I was trying to decide which of my existing mechs to put into storage. Opened the timeline dialog to see if it would show the pending loadout for a mech being refit, found out it doesn't, closed the dialog, and was left with a half-blank Leopard UI...the mission end dialog was dismissed. Couldn't access the menu with Esc, could take a screenshot and access the Steam UI, the UI animation loop was still cycling, but no way to take any action in the game at all. Ended up having to kill the game task. Auto-save was from before the mission start, tried redoing the mission but no more SHD-2D in the opfor at all. :(

It would be helpful to be able to see the pending loadout for mechs while they're being refit.

Finally, you should rename this game Battlecrack. I've been "one more turning" my sleep away every night since release. My todo list is off in the corner crying. So happy I backed this gem -- LOVE the game.

It would be nice, if you could add some details about the other "lost" kickstarter goals:

* Legendary 'Mechs and MechWarriors
* Famous character cameos in the campaign (a Social Mission Bonus from the Kickstarter Campaign.)
* Famous AI Lances in Skirmish mode (another Social Mission Bonus from the Kickstarter Campaign.)

Even with the very small handful of actual problems (not whiny complaints by those that think their entitled to whatever, like the "faster repair times" bitching and moaning), this is a A+ game and you guys at HBS should be very proud of your accomplishment.